One Year Later
by xSummersx
Summary: Ariel/Eric ONESHOT. One year after the storm that nearly claimed his life, Eric celebrates his birthday once again out at sea; this time with his new wife.


**Hi again everyone! I'm happy to say that I've got another story. First off I'd like to thank everyone who submitted a review or favorited my story from last time. It's because of you I write another. Please enjoy and let me know what you think! Thanks everyone (n_n)**

The night had long since taken over. The waves were now black as the sky they lay under. The ocean was still on this night, a rare and welcomed event of those spending their night on the sea. Which was exactly what a certain Prince was doing on his birthday. One year after the storm that almost claimed his life, Eric found himself right back on the water.

So much had happened to him in just one year. Unknowingly at the time, the girl of his dreams washed up on shore, he almost lost her, then he married her. He sometimes laughed at that timeline.

The setting for the party was almost exactly like it was the year before. Him and a select group of sailors, and of course Grimsby, were sharing in song and dance and funny stories while they forgot about time and their "real lives".

Eric was sitting on the ledge of the ship, with one leg hung over the side lazily and the other tucked up to his chest where he rested an arm on it. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, reveling in the salty air the sea always brought with it. His eyes scanned over the party going on and he gave a laugh when he knowingly found Grimsby hung over the side of the ship and a bit green in the face.

"Eric you should be celebrating! Come on lad, join in the dance!" a sailor shook him by the shoulder.

He gave a quick laugh and shook the man off.

"I will in a bit," he assured. "But that last number took it out of me."

The sailor gave a whistle and shout before returning back to the sea of dancing fools. The real reason Eric was resting was because he was waiting for a certain someone to come upstairs soon. He had told her she needn't dress up but she absolutely insisted that she did. He kept assuring her that she looked beautiful regardless of what she wore. But, Ariel being Ariel…well needless to say he had lost that battle.

To take his mind off her for a moment, Max came bounding up to him ready to play.

"You want some attention boy?" he laughed and hopped onto the deck.

He slipped into the crowd of sailors with Max bounding at his heels. At some point, Grimsby did eventually get over his impending illness and headed off to find Eric's birthday gift. He had some-what found out by accident that the Prince was rather, for lack of a better word, disgusted at his gift from last year. Being a quick learner, Grimsby has asked Ariel if she knew what would be good to get him and she had agreed to help him look into it.

After playing with Max for a while Eric once against started to head over to the ledge for some rest. Some of the sailors shouted out to him to stay.

"You're too young to be tired yet!"

Eric scratched the back of his head.

"You guys have too much energy."

"It's too beautiful a night not to enjoy, Your Majesty!"

"Rare these waves be so calm," said another. "King Triton must be in a friendly type mood."

Eric gave a grin to the statement about his new father-in-law.

"What of my father?"

The soft request caused the music to die down and all the glances were drawn to the door leading to the bottom deck. There, bedecked in the simple sparking light blue dress she wore when she turned human, stood the one person Eric had been dying to see all night. He grinned from ear to ear and made his way through the crowd. She smiled back when she saw him and, if possible, smiled brighter when she gave him her hand.

Regardless that all eyes were on them, Eric wasted no time in taking his wife in his arms and kissing her passionately. When they broke apart, mind you only for oxygen, Ariel cupped his face in her hands.

"Happy birthday," she whispered.

His response came in a quick kiss. Their moment was sold short by Grimsby coming up to them.

"I do believe that now would be a great time to give you your gift?"

Eric laughed and placed an arm around his wife as they brought their attention to Grim who turned around and picked up a wrapped package before heading over and giving it to him. Eric let out a sigh of relief at the size of the gift; at least he knew it wasn't another statue.

"No, it's not a statue," Grim read him. "Ariel helped me pick it out so I do hope you'll like it."

Eric gave his caretaker an apologetic smile before turning to Ariel.

"Then I already love it," he whispered to her.

"You better," she smiled.

He placed it on the ledge of the ship and started to undo the wrapping. Once that was taken care of he took out the box and opened it up to reveal a small silver chain bracelet with a gold anchor hanging from it that had his name engraved. To be honest he loved it.

He started to try and put it on but found that he was having some trouble. Ariel caught on and took it from him with a knowing smile.

"Here, let me help."

She quickly latched it to his wrist and admired it on him for a moment.

"Well Eric?" Grimsby asked.

"It's great Grim. A huge improvement from last year," he teased the last statement.

Grim gave a roll of his eyes.

"Well I guess it would be…anyway, happy birthday Eric."

"Thanks Grim," he grinned.

"Aye, happy birthday Eric!" the sailors cheered and whistled.

"Aye Eric!" Ariel raised her hands up and acted like the sailors.

Eric burst out laughing and wrapped his arms around her, touching his forehead to hers.

"You're something else."

"Yes I be, matey."

He gave her a squeeze before bringing his attention to the music and flashing her a smile.

"Dance?"

She looked up in fake thought for a moment.

"…I guess."

He took her hands and led her to the middle of the deck and started to dance to the music created from the sailors. As they dance, Ariel leaned in close, resting herself firmly against him as he put his arms around her waist. The calm night brought with it a gentle breeze that the young couple reveled in as they danced across the deck.

After a few songs, they retired to the upper deck where they were content to be alone and away from the commotion for a while. Once they reached the bow of the ship, Eric gathered her once again in his arms and kissed her deeply. Ariel responded happily and returned the kiss, putting one hand behind his neck while resting the other by his shoulder.

When they broke apart, Ariel let out a blissful sigh and leaned on the railing. Eric watched her with a smile and joined her on the ledge.

"It's such a beautiful night," she said quietly.

He nodded.

"These nights are rare."

"I think it's a bit of a turn around from last year," she laughed.

He let himself laugh too as he looked out across the starry sky.

"You know…you never did tell me about the night you saved me," he gave her a nudge.

She looked at him and a look of disbelief crossed her face. Had she really never talked to him about it?

"What?" he asked, after she said nothing.

"Oh…I guess I'm surprised we never talked about this!"

He chuckled softly.

"You know that is true…not like it was a big event in my life or anything!"

They both shared a laugh.

"Well…where to start," she cast her glance down to her old home.

"The beginning would be good," he added quickly before getting a playful hit from her.

"Well I know that…"

She trailed off in thought for a moment, subconsciously tapping her fingers to the ledge.

"Well I had just gotten into a fight with my father actually. After that I fled to my grotto to be alone for a while. While I was messing around I suddenly saw something block out the moon overhead so I went to investigate."

"You would," he interrupted with a laugh.

She gave him a smirk.

"And aren't you glad I did," she poked him.

"Delighted that you did," he smiled.

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and continued.

"Well when I broke the surface I saw these lights exploding in the sky," she looked dreamy as she spoke. "They were so beautiful."

"I think you're talking about fireworks," he added.

She looked at him, silently asking him to explain to her.

"Well…they are…hmm…this is hard to explain."

Ariel laughed.

"Well if a human can't explain it then there's no hope for me!"

He laughed and moved close to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"We'll talk about that stuff later. Anyway, keep going."

"Right," she nodded, trying to find where she left off. "I was so mesmerized by what I saw so I swam closer to the ship to investigate. I climbed up and rested on the side and actually there was a little hole for me to look through. I could see everything! There was a bunch of people dancing around playing instruments and stuff. I was so excited because it was the closest I had ever gotten to humans before."

She cast her glance once again back to the sea, happening to catch a look at part of the ship that looked exactly like the ship a year ago.

"It looked exactly like that," she pointed down.

He followed her finger to see the small deck that jutted out from the ship.

"Well…this ship is modeled exactly like the last one. Everything is almost exactly the same," he explained.

"Well this helps my story…that's where I was."

He smiled.

"Got it."

"Anyway…so I was watching everyone dancing and singing and then Max headed right over to me and planted a huge kiss on my face…it scared me!" she exclaimed after a moment of silence.

He laughed with his wife and took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. She then gave a dreamy sigh and looked him in the eyes.

"And that was when I saw you."

Eric couldn't stop the broad smile that came on his face at her simple words.

"You were so handsome I couldn't stop staring. You were the most beautiful person I had ever seen."

She felt the blush creep onto her cheeks and she buried her face into his chest in embarrassment.

"The longer I stared at you the faster my heart pounded…"

She trailed off and then felt him place a hand on her chin and direct her face up to meet his where he wasted no time in kissing her again. She melted into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck and he brought his arms around her waist and pulled her as close as he could. They broke the kiss slowly and quietly stared at one another for a moment.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too."

Her gaze once again fell to the waters below and she continued her story.

"Then the storm came. The winds and waves picked up and you all went into a panic. I was scared for your safety," she looked up at him. "And then the winds picked up so much I was thrown into the sea. I quickly came back up to see you had gotten off the boat safely but then you went back for Max. The moment the boat exploded I felt my heart stop."

She stopped and took a few deep breaths to relax herself and Eric rubbed her back in comfort. She swallowed hard before continuing.

"I searched all over for you and couldn't find you and I was terrified. Then I turned by chance just in time to see you go under the waves. I wasted no time in going after you. I grabbed you and brought you back up to the surface and then swam with you to shore where I laid you out and stayed with you. I was so worried when you weren't moving or anything. Then you started breathing and I let out a huge sigh of relief."

Ariel finally smiled again and Eric let himself smile too.

"I knew that I had fallen in love with you right there and then," she smiled. "So I started to sing to you…do you remember that?"

"A little. It's very fuzzy. I just remember hearing the most beautiful voice and then slowly opening my eyes to barely make out the beautiful angel singing above me, bathed in sunlight."

He put his arm around her when he finished the sentence and she felt the blush come back again.

"Sound right?" he asked with slight tease.

"Yeah," she looked up at him and poked his nose. "That sounds about right."

They were silent for a moment.

"Why did you leave?" he then asked.

She gave a sigh at first.

"Believe me, if I had the choice I would have. But I heard Max barking and saw Grim was coming so for obvious reasons I had to leave."

"You could have left a note…" he teased.

She responded by hitting him playfully on the shoulder.

The night slowly went on and both were content to rest in each others presence.

"So when are you going to give me my gift?" asked Eric, breaking the silence.

She turned and looked at him with a raised brow.

"What? That is your gift," she motioned to the bracelet.

"No…" he turned to face her fully. "This was from Grim, you only helped pick it out," he emphasized 'helped'.

"Well…let's see here…oh yes. I've got it."

With that she stood up and took his hands, bringing him too his feet. Before he could speak she cut him off by putting her hands to his face.

"Happy birthday Eric."

With that, she captured his lips in a deep and very passionate kiss. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her as close to him as he could as they continued to deepen the kiss. They shared many kisses before finally breaking apart, both somewhat out of breath.

"Best present I've ever gotten," he beamed.

"I love you Eric."

He smiled and took her into a warm and loving embrace.

"I love you too my little mermaid."


End file.
